Now Germany's problem

Editorial

The extradition last week of Ernst Zundel was the culmination of what most
Canadian Jewish organizations and many other fair-minded people had sought. Zundel was finally repatriated to Germany after decades of playing anti-Semitic gadfly in Canada and the United States. Zundel was one of Canada's most vocal voices of Hitlerian Jew-hatred and he was able to revel in a position of notoriety among white supremacists and other extremists over the past several decades.

Canada is a better place with Zundel gone. He now becomes the problem of Germany, a country with laws that explicitly outlaw expressions that deny or diminish the Holocaust.

But while Canada is better off for Zundel's absence, our reaction to the whole situation is not entirely joyous. Though we may be glad to be rid of him, Zundel's allegations have caused enormous pain to survivors of the Holocaust, to other Jews, to all Canadians with a sense of moral decency and historical accuracy – and to the fabric of this multicultural country in general.

Zundel was thrown out of Canada based on a judge's decision that his presence here presented a threat to national security. However, Zundel accomplished much while here, not least of which was introducing historical falsehoods into the Canadian discussion and providing mentorship to a generation of like-minded racists.

Even without the presence of Zundel, anti-Semitism remains endemic in this country – and Zundel is far from the only high-profile propagator of hatred towards Jews. Among the clients of Zundel's former lawyer, Doug Christie, are one-time Alberta school teacher Jim Keegstra – who spoke of a "Jewish conspiracy" to his students – and former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew, charged with hate crimes in 2003 after telling a reporter that Hitler was justified in "frying" six million Jews.

Even in the short time since Zundel's departure, his former associate Paul Fromm has stated that he hopes to channel disapproval of his mentor's deportation into a "reinvigoration of the far-right movement."

Nor is Zundel's presence and arrest in Germany likely to dampen the rising neo-Nazi sentiment in that country. Despite a sense of guilt over the Holocaust among many younger Germans, and the steady growth of the German-Jewish community, particularly in Berlin, hate crimes against Jews continue to occur on a semi-regular basis.

According to a report by the European Jewish Congress, incidents in Germany over the past five years include the assault of two women wearing Star of David necklaces and the firebombing and desecration of synagogues.

All this despite attempts by the German government to ban far-right groups like the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party, a group that has caused considerable embarrassment on the international stage to a country desperately trying to shake its wartime image.

Zundel has been charged in his home country after spending four decades in Canada disseminating his alarming views not only here, but to his compatriots, in his native tongue. Of course, the penalties for hate crimes in Germany are much tougher than in this country, but in the past, Zundel's incarceration in Canada has only led to rallies in his support.

Which brings us to a conundrum. Does the publicizing – and prosecuting – of hate crimes bring greater public awareness and a collective desire to stamp out racism? Or does it only fan the flames and make martyrs of despicable characters?

At this stage, the man may be gone, but unfortunately, his legacy is not yet forgotten.

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